Tuesday, February 26, 2013

I've been reading the Game of Thrones series of books. I'm on book 4 - A Feast for Crows.

I was delighted to hear about the 6 direwolves that are found at the beginning of book 1, but am a little disappointed that they don't figure as prominently in the subsequent books. Hopefully I am wrong.

The other day while walking Gimli, my imagination got the better of me as I took this picture.

Here I am with my... um... dire-corgi in the snow. He looks just the right size in the shadow, doesn't he?

Sunday, February 24, 2013

All through this winter season, I've been taking Gimli to the park across the street from our house instead of doing our usual full walks. The homeowners in our neighborhood don't regularly clear away the sidewalks and so it's quite treacherous for someone as clumsy as I. I use our 30 ft leash and Gimli and I have a grand old time running and pouncing in the snow. He comes home as tired as if we had gone on one of our walks and it gives me a chance to work on his recall, score!

Backing onto the park are a row of homes and in one particular house, there lives a Golden Retriever. I suspect this is the same dog that Gimli met last Summer when it was a puppy and the owner was doing leash work up and down the side walk.

Well, Gimli and this doggie are now fence friends. Every time we go to the park, we must go to the fence to see the Golden. It's gotten to the point where we stopped by the fence one evening and the dog was inside. He saw us and made some noise because his owner let him out and he scampered to the fence to say hello.

On another occasion, we were walking and I didn't notice the Golden was at the fence, but he saw us! He barked a couple times, Gimli heard him and off we went to say hello.

Hopefully, we can meet up when the weather improves and these doggies can finally meet on the same side of the fence!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Remember that time you went to Germany and ate copious amounts of delicious deli meat and sausages so when you saw the sign for a European deli, you decided you'd go hoping for more goodies, but then you never found the time to go and months passed until this past weekend when you went with the intention to purchase some German items, when you walked through the door only to find out the entire store sells what looks like mainly Polish items, so you go to the deli counter to see the items but the prices are mislabeled so it looks like $9 a pound, which is far too much for deli meat but at this point you've been standing there for 10 minutes and listening to only Polish being spoken around you and so you decide that you must buy something so you purchase half a pound of Prosciutto and then leave convinced the other customers think you're a weirdo.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Yesterday's Saturday Smiler was canceled on account of snow. Two large storm systems merged over New England to give them a whopping amount of snow. But, before the storms merged, we were hit with a storm that left about a foot and a half of snow for us.

On Friday, when the storm hit us, we had to shovel the driveway three times before it was completely cleared away. Then, the snow plow came by and deposited the snow from the road onto the driveway. Luckily our neighbor came by and cleared it away.

While we were outside clearing away the snow, I took Gimli for a short walk out to the nearby park. On the way, he pooped so I decided we'd go through the park to the garbage bin. Well, that wasn't the best idea. The snow was up to my knees and I trudged all the way to the bin. Then, languished on the way back home. Gimli led the way and I could only plod along because of the deep snow. Needless to say, Friday night my poor thighs were quite achy.

Ordinarily, Gimli adores the snow. However on Friday evening, he went into the backyard and misjudged a snow drift. He meant to climb on it, but it was the soft, fluffy type of snow, so he sank all the way to the ground. It scared him so much that he jumped up and ran to the sliding door to be let back in! He's back to normal now, but I've never seen him that scared.

On Saturday, Gimli and I went to the backyard as I cleared away a path for him to get around the tall drift in the center of the yard. He didn't last too long, it was too cold and windy.

Finally, today Gimli and I were able to get outside to play. I wanted to make a snow creature, but alas, the snow was still too fluffy and not sticky so no snow creature at this time.

Gimli enjoyed himself romping around outside this afternoon. We forgot to take out a toy, so I asked him to find the Kong Wubba. It was covered by a few inches of snow and I doubted he'd be able to find it. However, he went right to where he remembered and started pushing his face into the snow to try to find it. He did and started digging... but it was frozen to the ground. I pulled and strained and finally it came up. We played fetch for a bit, until the snow became too much for him.

I think this is where I left the Wubba...

Come help me Candy!

I do like the snow, especially when I get to play with Gimli and romp around. Unfortunately, it's supposed to warm up tomorrow so this batch of snow will be gone soon enough.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

It started just as I was eating breakfast. I had my legs up on the recliner and I stretched, because why wouldn't you stretch to get comfy, and all of a sudden I feel this pop in my back. Right under my shoulder muscle in the back. It was so painful I wiggled my toes, legs, arms and fingers just to make sure I wasn't paralyzed. I somehow managed to get off the chair, but it still hurt. I was unsure if I'd be able to last the day but the Icy/Hot cream helped. In the afternoon I had to take some Advil just to be able to round out the last couple hours of the day.

At work, all sorts of things went wrong. Theories I had, didn't pan out and it was just a crummy work day.

This evening making dinner, it took much longer than usual. I made ground turkey and pasta, a dish I can make from memory and have made countless times. The meat didn't behave like it should, the sauce ended up runny and I ran out of spices.

I couldn't work out as much as I wanted on account of my back. It's hard to come up from up from the floor with this knot in my back. I could only do the machine portion.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

1. Complete the first two levels of Rosetta Stone - German - I started this last year in anticipation of our trip to Germany. I didn't learn as much as I wanted by the time we left for Germany and I feel disappointed in myself. I do want to finish all of the classes and this is something I want to accomplish this year. I have since found online resources to help me with the grammar, which will make it easier for me. I've always struggled with the grammar portion and hopefully the resources will help.

2. Read 20 books - Last year, I read 9 books, so I was 1 short of my goal. This year I've upped it to 20.- Completed 2 books:- The Hobbit - (re-read this one)- A Storm of Swords - book 3 in the Game of Thrones series

3. Spend less time on the computer in my non-working hours - I'd rather fall asleep with a book in my hand than be sleepy sitting at the computer and unable/unwilling to leave it. I find I'm always tired and hopefully this will help.

4. Maintain the blog with regular posts - I've come up with a tentative schedule for postings. I do find that every time we return from vacation, the posts slack off and it's a struggle for me to come back. That's something I need to work on.

5. Brush Gimli's teeth 5 times a week - If I can get a schedule, then it will be easier to maintain.

6. Continue to photograph Gimli and all of his antics.7. Lose 20 lbs. - Last year, I struggled with this and am struggling with it again as the year begins. I was doing well, then I stopped exercising and all the progress I did was lost.- Started exercising again, lost about 1/2 an inch.

8. Finish painting our house - We have 2 bathrooms to complete and 3 bedrooms to paint this year.- 2nd bathroom painting completed.

9. Frame and put up our pictures.

10. Go to The Arboretum at least once a month - weather permitting.11. Discover local restaurants/bistros etc in my city or in the surrounding areas.

12. Make a snow animal of some kind. - Weather permitting. We had so little snow last year that I couldn't scrape together enough to make one. This year, the sticking snow arrived and then promptly disappeared. I am hopeful, but we'll see if Mother Nature cooperates.

13. Take more pictures of Mike and me.14. Return to the Church. Something is missing in my life and that might be it.15. Enjoy our backyard.16. Surprise someone.

17. Make a pie.18. Corgi #2 - As mentioned, the last pregnancy was not viable, so we are back to waiting. We are still on the list, so we are hopeful.

19. Put in more flowers/shrubs etc in the yard - The ones we put in last year are doing well and now I want to put in more.

20. Zombie walk.21. Photography course.22. Move off of "Medium" on the drums in Rock Band and to "Hard".23. Start cooking more Trinidad type food.

24. Work on Gimli's recall at the Dog Park.

25. Take Gimli to the play class at Bold Canine.

26. Continue work on Gimli's possessiveness.

27. Complete the Minas Tirith 3D puzzle - Started the puzzle.

28. Go to Woofstock.29. Scan in our baby pictures.30. Start putting together our Disney album.31. Go to Trinidad.- Went on my own a couple weeks ago, saw my aging Grandparents. Don't know when next I'll be back.32.... More to come as the year goes on.